


Familiar Habits

by Midnight_Waltz



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Marichat, also i cant think of a good title or summary, one single line of dialogue, oops then, so if it seems off, this is literally just fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-20
Updated: 2017-12-20
Packaged: 2019-02-17 08:46:15
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13073325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Midnight_Waltz/pseuds/Midnight_Waltz
Summary: She didn’t know when or how, but she had already grown accustomed to his overly familiar habits.





	Familiar Habits

**Author's Note:**

> This isn't even the first story I had in my head and had written down, but it is the first story to have more of an actual written structure than its predecessors.  
> Also, this is my first fanfic in years. Also, I can’t dialogue.
> 
> 12/24/17  
> Edit: I am so ashamed that I missed a chance to pun and am only now seeing it, after the 3rd-4th time I've edited this. That's why I decided to sneak it in, seeing it wouldn't really be Marichat without it.

She didn’t know when or how, but she had already grown accustomed to his overly familiar habits. Whether it was from draping a casual arm across her shoulders to laying his shoulder next to hers, Marinette thought she had become familiarized with it all. He had, after all, always been so close. Always within reaching distance.

Now he sat sprawled on her floor, head in her lap, and she wasn't sure where to draw the line. Or when they had crossed it.

As Ladybug and Chat Noir, they were a team, a duo. Two halves of one whole and the whole shebang. As partners, they to rely on each other, trust the other's judgment, and follow through with their usual plan of attack.

Even during patrols, there was always a type of intimacy they shared. The kind that was easy to ignore while fighting akuma, where her attention was supposed to be.

Not at Chat’s face, not at the way his tail drooped in movement when he was sullen, and not especially when their bodies were pressed tight together due to yet another akuma mishap.

Her focus was always centered on the threat of the akuma, no matter how much she would banter while arguing with Chat. Her job was  to figure out basic maneuvers to outsmart the latest akuma of the week, not chitchat with him.

At first she had assumed it was from their closeness, their shared experience as miraculous holders. A burden only they knew.  
But as she spent more and more time with Chat, Ladybug noticed that sometimes his touches lingered.

They were never particularly long lasting, his fingers hesitating before he quickly withdrew and he was leaving just as soon with a mumbled excuse that she nearly let it go.

Until it happened _and happened_ **_and kept happening_** that she couldn't pretend she didn't notice it.  
It was so small and subtle, the way he stole glances at her, or inched just to be ever closer to her. He was always reaching out, but never quite breaking the unspoken boundary line she had placed on their relationship.

He was so touch starved that he craved even the smallest hint of attention from her, and his Cheshire grin that she was used to seeing would shrink into a warm dopey smile that had her pause and think about what it was they were.

But it turned out she didn't have to figure that question out.  
Because by the time she had realized her feelings _and_ what to do with them, Chat was falling for Marinette and not Ladybug.                     

Which presented _yet another_ dilemma.

Because, while Ladybug had always proclaimed the importance of secret identities staying a secret, Marinette had no such responsibility.  
It had been the small touches that she found herself yearning for, the ones that he was always trying to hide.

At first, Chat had visibly stiffened when she rubbed his head when he had leaned down sulking at his eighth consecutive lost at Ultimate Mecha Strike III.

It was a consolatory prize for placing second, she had reasoned, but really, it was because he managed to continue for as long as he did, as most players had given in by their fourth loss. ~~And also maybe because she wanted to pet his hair and see if it was as soft as it looked. Preferably without her gloves to limit the touch.~~

But soon, he had relaxed into her touch, and was pushing even closer into the palm of her hand, purring.  
And then it became something of a habit, having Chat around as both Ladybug and Marinette.

He'd stop for some small talk, nab a few pastries, and then have his scalp massaged by her before leaving. Eventually, the visits lasted longer and longer and it was suddenly a regular thing. For Chat to rest his head in Marinette's lap, something not even Ladybug had allowed to happen.

She looked down beyond the tousled blond locks and the black cat ears that seemed to twitch even though they weren't attached to any actual nerves, and saw the way his tail seemed to mimic the same pleased sensation.

He poked his head up when her ministrations stopped.

"What's wrong _purrincess_?" He purred, vibrating halfway on top of her.

Honestly, Marinette herself wasn't sure either.

But she knew this dual identity and relationship she shared with Chat couldn't go on forever.  
She couldn't keep sneaking back into her room in record time before he found out she was Ladybug. And Tikki couldn't hide forever during their little gaming and cuddling sessions together.

But really, she just didn't want to hide it from him anymore.

She stared into his electric green eyes, watching as his pupils began to dilate and a creeping blush spread from beneath the slits of his mask.

She didn't even realize when her face was only inches apart from his, and when her hands had clasped together behind his head, and her breathing had stopped.

She was already kissing him before she even noticed any of those other things, feeling his lips suck in surprise and then he was melting into her.

It was a kiss that couldn't have lasted longer than a few seconds, but Marinette wasn't sure how properly time could accurately convey how long it actually felt for her.

When they parted, Chat seemed to look at her with something else in his eyes, glimpses she had often caught with him as Ladybug, though thinly concealed behind his small, sad smiles.

Now he looked at her straightforwardly, and she could see what it was he had been hiding so desperately.

It was love.

Adoration, something smoldering, bristling dark, and a small silent plea for her to love him back.

Marinette wanted to tell him who she was.

She had wanted to do so before their relationship together had progressed even more than it already had, and so she decided that she would today. Before their relationship had advanced even further and he was caught in some mad illicit affair between her two identities and his.

  
She hoped it was worth the wait.

...And considering Chat had fallen for her twice, unknowingly, she supposed it was.

**Author's Note:**

> Don't count how many times I used "always."  
> btw it's 7 (not counting the one above)


End file.
